@Peter1000 you said "Ok, just do this: Count how many brazen changes to the text of a verse that changes the theology of the Church. If you count more than 6-10 I would be surprized."
Are you serious? You think its OK to have 6-10 changes in a book of scripture that change the theology and beliefs of a church you dedicate your life to? I have to strongly disagree with your logic here, ONE such change is enough, but to allow 6-10 before you even start to let it bother you I find very disturbing, but if it works for you then that's great and there is probably no point at all in continuing this discussion with you because you have a very generous error threshold so any inconsistency is going to be covered by that position. Kinda the same as 'we believe in the bible are far as its translated correctly', in other words, if it goes against what I want to believe about my church, not matter what the evidence is, I can just fall back on this excuse.
I have already shown in this thread quite a few changes in the text of the book of mormon that change the theological beliefs of the LDS church. I NEVER said there were 5000 changes that changed the theological beliefs of the church, I said I like to focus on the ones that do change the theology, and God can spell so I don't think the excuse/argument of 'its mainly grammar and spelling' with regards to 99.99% (your claimed statistic) of the changes is a credible apologetic position.
If the passages I have shown you are not enough (the ones that change the church obvious racist attitude to 'soften' the message because god changed his mind about black people in 1978) then I think this one is enough of a theological change to question the validity of both the god of the LDS church and of Jospeh Smith as a prophet, because Jesus does not just stop being god in the space of 7 years, but Josephs ideas and what he wanted to achieve with the church he started certainly did change dramatically in those 7 years.
Even his one of his 3 witnesses, Oliver Cowdrey was excommunicated in 1838 for questioning Joseph on his going against the book of mormon and practicing polygamy (which was supposedly of god and said polygamy is not allowed). Josephs doctrine and beliefs of his church changed with what Joseph himself wanted to believe at the time. Which seems to be a theme, because only the living prophet can be trusted right? If he disagrees with everything that the LDS church was founded on, then its rubbish right? Very convenient.
There are more, you can look them up yourself.
1 Nephi 13:40 1830
...that the Lamb of God is the Eternal Father and the Savior of the world...
1 Nephi 13:40 1837
...And I looked and beheld the Lamb of God, that he was taken by the people; yea, the Son of the everlasting God was judged of the world.
Jesus has been demoted here, from God to just the son of God, pretty big theological change. God doesn't mess up that bad. And Jesus had to be demoted in quite a few places in the book of mormon
1 Nephi 11:18 1830
"And he said unto me, Behold, the virgin which thou seest, is the mother of God, after the manner of the flesh
1 Nephi 11:18 1837
"And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh."
1 Nephi 11:21 1830
"And the angel said unto me, behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Eternal Father!"
1 Nephi 11:21 1837
"And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! . . . "
Just in case you missed it here are a couple that go from god promoting racism to a 'softer' version to fit in with the times and beliefs of the day.
2 Nephi, ch. 5. In 1981 it reads
The Nephites separate themselves from the Lamanites, keep the law of Moses, and build a temple—Because of their unbelief, the Lamanites are cursed, receive a skin of blackness, and become a scourge unto the Nephites.
in 2010 it reads
The Nephites separate themselves from the Lamanites, keep the law of Moses, and build a temple—Because of their unbelief, the Lamanites are cursed, cut off from the presence of the Lord, are cursed, and become a scourge unto the Nephites.
Mormon, ch. 5. In 1981 reads
Mormon again leads the Nephite armies in battles of blood and carnage—The Book of Mormon shall come forth to convince all Israel that Jesus is the Christ—The Lamanites shall be a dark, filthy, and loathsome people—They shall receive the gospel from the Gentiles in the latter days.
in 2010 it reads
Mormon again leads the Nephite armies in battles of blood and carnage—The Book of Mormon will come forth to convince all Israel that Jesus is the Christ— Because of their unbelief, the Lamanites will be scattered, and the Spirit will cease to strive with them—They will receive the gospel from the Gentiles in the latter days.
and lets not forget poor king Mosiah, and the argument that 'it was mormon who got it wrong' doesn't stand up as credible either, Joseph Smith was translating with the power of god right? God knows that mormon made that mistake and his spirit was with Joseph Smith in the translation process right? If he wasn't then its not of god at all, and if he was then he wouldn't let the mistake (or any mistake for that matter) happen in the first place.
Mosiah 21:28 was changed in 1964 from
"king Benjamin had a gift from God, whereby he could interpret such engravings; " to
"king Mosiah had a gift from God, whereby he could interpret such engravings; "
Ok, I counted 6 verses were brazenly changed, but did they change our theology?
Let's see:
1 Nephi 13:40
Is the name of Jesus "the Eternal Father"? Yes. Is the name of Jesus also "the Son of the Eternal Father"? Yes. So whether JS used Eternal Father to refer to Jesus or The Son of the Eternal Father it does not matter.
The title of the Eternal Father can refer to both God the Eternal Father or Jesus, the Son of the Eternal Father. Because the scipture is referring to the Son, JS changed the name to avoid confusion.
It did not change our theology, because Jesus is known by both names. But the name of the Eternal Father also refers to Jesus's God and Father (John 20:17), God the Eternal Father.
So that brazen change is a nothingburger.
1 Nephi 11:18
Is the name of Jesus "God"? Yes. Is the name of Jesus also "the Son of God"? Yes.
The title of God can refer to both God the Father, or His Son, Jesus Christ. Because the scripture is referring to the Son, JS changed the name to avoid confusion.
It did not change our theology, because Jesus is know by both names. But the name of God also refers to Jesus's God and Father(John 20:17), God the Father.
So again that brazen change is a nothingburger.
1 Nephi 11:21
Same thing as 1 Nephi 13:40 so read it again and that brazen change also becomes a nothingburger.
2 Nephi ch. 5
The main point of this scripture is that the Lamanites were cursed and were cut off from the presence of the Lord. This is not a doctrinal issue, like someone needs to be baptized in order to be saved.
So how they were cursed is not going to change our theology. If the original translation said that the curse was a skin of blackness, but a prophet of the Lord thought it would be proper to just say they were cursed, and he went to the Lord, and the Lord gave him permission to make the change, then it was made.
The brazen change did not alter our theology, or doctrine, and so again this brazen change turns out to be a nothingburger.
Mormon ch. 5
Same thing for 2 Nephi ch. 5. If a prophet of God in 2010 thought some words were inappropriate, and he went to the Lord and the Lord gave him permission to change some words, he did it.
The brazen change did not alter our theology, there are still Lamanites and Nephites, and the BOM is still true and all the theology in the book is still in place. So the brazen changes amount to a nothingburger again.
The Benjamin/Mosiah mistake by Mormon has already been discussed.
This brazen change does not alter our theology, so this brazen change amounts to a big old nothingburger again.
So I count a total of 6 brazen changes (that amount to no brazen change in reality). Believe me if they did, I would reconsider my membership. But they do not, as demonstrated.
So 5,000 - 6 = 4994 other changes that are of a punctuation or grammatical changes.
And the BOM is still the most correct book and is the keystone to our religion. The changes just made it more correct than before. NO change in our theology. If you think it did change our theology, tell me how it did.